Sunday, September 9, 2012

EMAIL ADDRESSES - HOW TO CHOOSE THEM

This past week, I had an interesting encounter with email addresses as I am finalising plans for an event. Back in the day before emails were popular, we chose names which were closely associated with the things we did. For example, in 1995, one of my emails was volleyballer@...I was in the peak or somewhere close of my volleyball career, being on scholarship and all and I wanted to be known as that...a volleyballer. However as life changed I realised that email addresses almost dictated what people were to expect from you. I then used my name which has served me well to date, as there is no issue with who people are communicating with, me. As a tertiary education lecturer for the last ten years, I have come across some interesting names (no offense to some of my close friends)...here are a few redhotchineyluva, sassysandra, hotandtemptingcarla, and I could go on. Now imagine applying for a job and you send the email from foreveryoursjames - now what would the potential employer think? Well the most interesting situation happened this past week, people who were once in a position and are now out of that position are using the titles as the email address...like you won't be CEO for ever, or driver, or prince. And of course for sensitive purposes, I won't reveal who...but you can read between the lines. All I am saying, you are your name, and so is your email address, so unless you have an alter ego and you really want to be diiferent, except in that case, use your name. I know some of us have the same names, but go alpha numeric if you must cb10@....com - that works too. I hope you PR people out there, who help to guide these people, let them know that real names work, even for an email address, it makes for quick recognition. If you are guilty, create a new email address and import your contacts... More time :-)